On Italian football: “On a physical level and in terms of game intensity, Italian football is certainly more demanding than Portuguese, but we who come from that have already shown that we know how to adapt to different contexts. This is what I’m doing here, and for me represents a reason for pride.”
On adapting at Milan: “The fact of having known Leao for years and being his friend is helping me a lot, but I was also lucky to find a group of players and a coaching staff who are as one. This has accelerated my acclimatization.”
On Leao: “We are quite different. He is much more extroverted off the pitch, and even on the pitch, I seem more concentrated. Not that he isn’t, let’s say he is different. Maybe that’s why we are so good friends, because I’m almost a father figure to him. I reassure him, I invite him to reflect before doing something, to take it easy. I stay close to him and tell him what is good and what is not good. He does the opposite: he says I have to be looser, that I don’t have to worry too much about everything. We are the opposite of each other, it’s fun.”
On Pioli: “I like his ability to communicate with the players, making everyone feel useful and special, whether he plays every match or takes the field once a month. As a coach, he is doing a fantastic job. Serie A speaks for him.”
If he expected to play more: “When I accepted Milan’s proposal, I had a more important goal than others, to feel the scent of grass again; before that, to return to considering myself a player after all the injuries that had held me back in the last three years. So far I have always been at the coach’s disposal. Then I wanted to show that I deserve to play, through daily work. And I think I have achieved this goal too: up to now, I have played 16 games. It seems very positive to me.”
On the differences with Calabria: “From a full-back, Pioli wants balance: defensive compactness and ability to push. Compared to Calabria, I’m perhaps a bit more offensive. Having different characteristics is a resource: Davide, Theo and I have different qualities and this is a good thing, because it offers the coach the possibility of choice and increases competitiveness in training. In a great club like Milan, competition raises the overall level of the team.”
On the Scudetto dream: “Are we starting to believe it? It’s normal when you get a lot of points and in the locker room, there are players, winners like Zlatan or Bonera and Dida. The important thing is to keep the balance. If we can, I’m convinced that we will fight all the way to the title “.
On the Europa League: “We must respect Red Star, the next opponent. Alone, the Milan crest we wear on our chest does not win the games. Without an audience they lose a lot, but remain dangerous”.
So yeah.
